\86 



NA rURE 



[February 27, 1908 



here and there of the forest negro. There has also 

 been an obvious intermixture of blood between the 

 eastern Hottentots and the incoming Bantu, and some 

 of the pictures of Hottentot boys are singularly remin- 

 iscent of the Nyanja populations of western and 

 southern Nyasaland, regions that certainly once 

 possessed a Hottentot or Bushman population. The 

 e.xtraordinary steatopygy developed by the Hottentot 

 women, and occasionally the men, to a degree not met 

 with in any other part of Africa (though by no means 

 unlcnown among Nilotic or Sudanese negroes, and 

 ap|jarently characteristic of a primitive negroid popu- 

 lation of Egypt and the Mediterranean basin) is also 

 illustrated by photographs and verbal description. 



What strikes one markedly in the Bushman t^pes 

 and some of the Hottentots is the superficial 

 resemblance they bear in features to the peasant popu- 

 lation of parts of central Europe, eastern 

 France, and — if one may dare to say so — 

 some parts of Ireland.' It is quite possible that the 

 Bushman type of negro once ranged from central and 

 western Europe, across the Mediterranean, and down 

 the east side of Africa to his present habitat. It is 

 curious that these types do not recall any reminiscences 

 of the Congo pygmy or the West African negro. One 

 is only able to match them in the eastern Sudan and 

 in Europe. The author directs attention to the fact 

 that the Bushmen and Hottentots, where they are un- 

 ii'fluenccd by the Bantu, do not practise circumcision. 



They are scarcely in an age of stone; indeed. Dr. 

 Schultze does not seem to record the use of any stone 

 implements. But they are living in an age of bone, 

 wood, and skins. The arrow-heads of the Bushmen 

 are usually made of bone. So are many other imple- 

 ments of Bushman and Hottentot. Wood and leather, 

 gourds, thorns, and sticks are the materials out of 

 which utensils, ornaments, and receptacles are made. 



Among the many aspects of the life of these primi- 

 tive peoples so completely illustrated in this work are 

 the domestic animals — sheep, goats, and cattle. The 

 dog no doubt migrated south with the Bushman and 

 Hottentot, after a previous sojourn in the Mediter- 

 ranean basin. But obviously, the goat first, then the 

 ox and the sheep, were brought to them from the 

 north by Bantu or Nilotic negroes. The Hottentot 

 root word to express cattle [goma-) is probably derived 

 from the southern Bantu -konio, and biri-, for goat, 

 may be the early Bantu buri, budi. Even the vocable 

 for sheep, git-, can be traced to a Bantu source. 



The cattle of these regions, whether belonging to 

 Hottentot or Bantu peoples, are apparently a mixture 

 between breeds introduced two and three hundred 

 years ago by the Portuguese and the Dutch and the 

 two more or less indigenous breeds of Central .-\frica, 

 that is to say, the humped ox (Bos indicus) and the 

 Oala or Egyptian ox (Bos aegyptiactis), with its 

 enormous horns. Nowhere amongst the herds of any 

 of the southern Bantu or of the Hottentot does one 

 meet with the typical African ox that formerly ranged 

 from Egypt across the Sudan to Senegambia, and 

 which has penetrated to the mountain regions of the 



1 Anthropologists hardly need to he reminded that Ireland contanis at 

 least half-a-dozen distinct anthropological types, ranging from the hand- 

 somest to the ugliest of European peoples. 



NO. 2000, VOL. 77I 



Nile and Congo basins. In this o.x of pure breed the 

 horn core-, are never set horizontally and curved for- 

 ward over the face ; they grow out at right angles 

 from the frontal line, and then upwards and back- 

 wards. It is evident that the cattle introduced from 

 western and northern Europe considerably modified 

 the stock of the South and South-West .-Xfrican breeds. 



The Hottentot language is profoundly studied in 

 the volume under review. There is a vast deal of 

 information about folklore, rainfall, and temperatures, 

 lists of plants, the musical notation of Hottentot 

 song's, chemical analyses of Hottentot medicines, and 

 a bibliography. 



If this is the way in which Germany is going to 

 illustrate her colonies, the world of science would 

 gladlv install her in possession of all the backward 

 and little-known regions of the world. 



H. H. Johnston. 



ALCOHOL AM) ITS EFFECTS. 

 Alrnhol and tlic lliunaii Body. By Sir Victor Horsley, 

 F.R.S., and Dr. Marv D. Sturge, with a Chapter 

 by Dr. Arthur Newsholme. Pp. xvi + 370. (London : 

 Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1907.) Price 5s. net. 



THE importance of the alcohol question to the 

 well-being of tiie rqce can scarcely be 

 exaggerated, and in many respects this book will 

 be very useful, but it is questionable whether the 

 authors do not go too far in ascribing to alcohol ill 

 effects only and no useful properties. The book, in 

 fact, is a partisan one, and any evidence favourable 

 to alcohol has been completely suppressed. 



In the first chapter the action of alcohol as a drug 

 is considered, and it is shown how the use of alcohol 

 has declined in hospitals. The chemistry of alcoholic 

 beverages is then briefly discussed. The effects of 

 alcohol on protoplasm, on the various tissues of the 

 body, and on mental and phj'sical work, are subse- 

 qucntlv described in language which can be under- 

 stood by all, technical terms being avoided, and in 

 the final chapter Dr. Newsholme discusses statistically 

 the influence of the drinking of alcoholic beverages on 

 the national health and wealth. 



In venturing' to make some criticisms on the book 

 as a whole, we would remark that we are in com- 

 plete synipathy with the object of the authors, which 

 is, we take it, to emphasise the disastrous conse- 

 quences which may result from indulgence in alcohol. 



The first criticism we would offer is that no dis- 

 tinction is made between alcohol and alcoholic 

 beverages. It may be true that alcohol, as alcohol, 

 does not possess all the virtues and properties which 

 are so often attributed to it; but surely there is a 

 consensus of opinion that the moderate use of good, 

 well-matured spirit or wine is frequently beneficial 

 in some disease conditions, and many of the ills 

 attributed to alcohol may well be due to the by- 

 products present in cheap beverages. Alcohol has 

 been shown to occur in small quantities in the tissues ; 

 it is a result of normal metabolism; and we therefore 

 question whether the moderate use of alcoholic 

 beverages does any harm. The difliculty is, of course. 



